Battle of the Sexes

"Served up with star turns from Emma Stone and Steve Carell, Battle Of The Sexes slams a crowdpleaser across the net." - Screen International

"It’s game, set and match for Battle of the Sexes, a massively entertaining account of the momentous 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs that also deftly deals with the numerous social issues inherent in the carnival-like contest. Emma Stone comes out swinging with a terrific turn as a star player going through significant personal turmoil, while co-directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton top their 2006 smash Little Miss Sunshine with a finely tuned piece that deftly shoots the drama through with grand human comedy.

"As the match was perceived by the public, the contest pitted an essentially cartoon version of a male chauvinist pig against a women’s libber who thought women should be paid as much as men. For the clownish Riggs, the showdown served as a way this largely forgotten former No. 1 player (back in the early 1940s) could shove himself back into the spotlight one more time, while for King the issues were real, beginning with how women at the time were earning perhaps one-twelfth of what men could pull on the circuit.

"Just about everything about this film is winning and gratifying. Groomed to resemble King pretty closely, Stone delivers a terrific performance that’s convincing dramatically and physically, even if the tennis playing has been enhanced by computer-generated body doubling. Carell is goofy and funny in a plausible way for a born self-promoter and gambler now playing for his biggest stakes." - Hollywood Reporter